Chicken Fingers with BBQ Sauce & Spinach Blue Cheese Salad

Alex loves chicken … He literally could eat it every day! I on the other hand am generally not a big fan. I like it if it is chicken nuggets or fried chicken, you know all of the things that are bad for you, but clearly that isn’t going to work on this weight watchers business. I need to think of ways to make chicken so I will like it because he loves it so much. Today I made baked chicken fingers with a side of bbq sauce and a nice side salad.

I bought a pound of chicken tenders at the grocery store knowing that a serving of chicken is 3 tenders per person. In a shallow dish, I mixed 2 tbsp of reduced fat buttermilk and 2 tbsp of honey mustard. In another shallow dish I added ½ cup of plain bread crumbs. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and put a baking sheet in the oven while it is preheating. Put the chicken tenders in the buttermilk mixture and then dredge them in the plain breadcrumbs. Once the oven is preheated, place all the breaded chicken tenders on the preheated pan and bake for 6 minutes. Once the 6 minutes is up, turn the chicken over and bake another 6 minutes. When the chicken is done, serve it with 1 and ½ tbsp of bbq sauce.

As a side dish, take fresh spinach leaves and top them with tomatoes and 1 tbsp of blue cheese. You can add anything else you like but sometimes I just like to keep things simple.

Now for the points … the chicken with the bbq sauce is only 5 points! It is tasty and very filling. The salad is 3 points making the whole meal only 8 points! The salad point breakdown is 2 pts for the blue cheese (I try to use the smallest crumbles that way you get some in every bite) and the dressing 1 point for 1 tbsp of fat free raspberry walnut vinaigrette. You could easily make the salad less points with no cheese but I thought this meal worked well together. Small tip … you do not always have to measure your dressing, especially vinaigrettes. If you use the cap of the dressing bottle it is approximately 1 tbsp so you can go from there. Then just rinse the cap and put it back on the dressing.

Making meals in our Newlywed Kitchen that Alex loves and I end up loving because I adapt it to my taste is an awesome thing.  It’s even better when it is a whole meal for 10 points or less. Now I get to spend a lovely Sunday with my husband!

Steak Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Dressing

Being that Alex and I are from Pittsburgh, we LOVE steak salads. Now normally we like our salads with steak, egg, French fries with cheddar cheese and ranch dressing. I do not even want to know how many points that is on weight watchers so I had to adapt. This recipe uses 4 oz of steak per serving but it is more than enough for the salad.

Take spring mix lettuce and begin to build a salad. We only used the lettuce and tomato but you can add anything else that you want. Sprinkle the steak with salt (and pepper if you want) and sear the steak in a pan so it is done to your liking (we like medium rare to medium).  

While this is cooking you can make the dressing. Take ¼ of a cup of butter milk and a ¼ of a cup of reduced fat mayo. Add 2 tablespoons of horseradish (or more if you like it extra tangy), and stir in 4 scallions chopped up. We also added a few dashes of hot sauce and the dressing was delicious. Keep in mind that the dressing serves 4 so if you only have 2 people you still have 2 servings for a salad the next day.

Let the meat rest about 10 minutes and the slice it thinly and top it on the salad. Drizzle the salad with the homemade dressing and you have a perfect salad.

Like I said you can add veggies or hardboiled egg or blue and cheddar cheese if you would like, but you just have to add on the points. This salad with the steak and dressing is only 7 points. It completely fills you up and it is awesome.

Even though Alex and I can’t always have our Pittsburgh favorite, we can always find ways to adapt to them in our Newlywed Kitchen…. Now if only I could make a Primantis sandwich in 10 or less points.

Grilled Turkey Burgers & Parmesan Cauliflower

I am exhausted and about to go to bed but I just wanted to post before I do! Had a lonnnng day but I got to spend some time in the kitchen with my wonderful husband which does not happen very often (mostly because I am a bit of a control freak and do not like people in the kitchen when I am trying to get stuff done, but that is neither here nor there). The reason he was in there and helping me was because we were grilling some turkey burgers and he (for the most part) does all of the grilling. I have to admit, it was nice to just sit and there and talk while I was cooking and to have his help !

Well like I said, we made turkey burgers. We actually always have frozen all natural turkey burgers from costco which was perfect so we did not have to make them. I let them defrost over night so they were ready to go today. It is nice to look at a food product and see one ingredient “ground turkey”, that does not happen too often. Alex made them on the grill with fat free provolone cheese. He also toasted the whole wheat buns on the grill just to make them nice and toasty. We had tomato, lettuce, pickles, Dijon mustard, and ketchup, making the burgers 8 points each.

While he was outside grilling, I cut up fresh cauliflower (you can use frozen if you want), and sprayed them with olive oil cooking spray. Season them with a bit of salt and pepper and roast them in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. When they are finished, sprinkle them with about a quarter cup of parmesan cheese. The cauliflower is 2 points for a serving making the whole meal 10 points total! I think I should have a show “10 points or less” for meals based on weight watchers. If you know anyone that can make that happen, please let me know!

Normally Alex cleans up dinner, he even said today “I take for granted the meals you make, I like to clean the kitchen up because it is nice to have a good meal”… I thought that was very sweet and I hope he doesn’t read this and get embarrassed. Well tonight I cleaned up dinner since he was great and helped me cook! We work so well together in our Newlywed Kitchen …. Maybe I should let him in more often ;)

p.s. .... I hate when people say or spell "catsup" instead of ketchup. ok thats all.

Salmon with Mustard Herb Glaze & Maple Balsamic Brussel Sprouts

Day 2 … and it surprisingly went well again! Plus I am completely full from dinner. I went to work at about 730 this morning and worked until 5 pm. Went straight to the gym and was there until about 615 ish. When I got home around 630, I was exhausted and did not want to spend too much time cooking. Well being that it is currently 738, I cooked, we ate, we cleaned up, I looked at school stuff, and I am now blogging, I would say it did not take long at all!

Tonight I made salmon with a mustard herb “crust” which actually turned out more like a glaze, and balsamic and maple brussel sprouts. For the salmon, I sprayed the pan with cooking spray over medium high heat (I left the skin on just to cook but we do not eat the skin).  Each salmon was 5 oz portion, which I then coated with about 2 tsp of Dijon mustard each. On top of the mustard, I put some rosemary and fresh thyme and let them cook in the pan for about 10 minutes with a lid on (the salmon cooks through but it is still moist and delicious). The mustard just forms a delicious glaze on top and adds perfect flavor to the fish.

While the fish is cooking, I take a bag of frozen brussel sprouts (nothing added to them, just frozen), and put them on a pan sprayed with cooking spray. Add a touch of salt and roast them at 450 for about the same amount of time as the salmon. While that is in the oven, add 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar in a pan with 2 tablespoons of sugar free maple syrup. Let the sauce thicken a bit and once the brussel sprouts are finished, mix them in with the sauce. Everything turned out great! This is how it looked:

We had a bit of extra sauce so after I made sure the picture was pretty, I added that to the salmon and it was even better! This whole meal totaled 10 points! The salmon was 7 and brussel sprouts obviously 3. These are weight watchers recipes which is hard because I am actually using recipes (so not like me)… but I figure once I get the points system down I will be back to creating my own meals in no time !!

Now I am going to attempt to walk up the stairs after this long and tiring day and spend some time with man who makes us Newlyweds! He is helping me with tomorrows dinner in our Newlywed Kitchen so we can spend a little extra time together… since that is what it is all about.

Coconut Shrimp & Asparagus

I guess I have not posted in a while but that could be because I was FINALLY on my honeymoon!! It was fun and perfect and exactly what I needed after the craziness of life. Well with the new year here and being asked to be in TWO weddings this year, I really need to start cracking down a bit on the eating. I have decided to try weight watchers for the first time and I am doing great ….. on DAY 1! I figured this would be fun to blog about the meals and the points that they are, maybe for some good ideas, or a bit of inspiration, or just because it is still really good food!

For dinner tonight I made coconut shrimp and asparagus. Take 24 shrimp and peel and devein them. In a bowl mix flour, salt, beer, baking powder, and 2 egg whites. Whisk that together to form the batter. Take the shrimp and dip them in plain flour, put shrimp in the batter, and cover with coconut shreds. Put all of the shrimp on a baking pan coated with cooking spray, and bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. The shrimp are cooked perfectly and the outside batter is crisp and perfect. Next take asparagus and trim them and put them on a baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger and coat the asparagus with the soy mixture. Broil the asparagus for 8 minutes and they are finished!

Now here is the catch! … 4 Shrimp and about 8 asparagus spears is 7 points… Keep in mind that the shrimp are big, but that still is not a lot of food for a meal. You can add a salad, or do what I did and add 4 more shrimp for 6 points. (The asparagus is only 1) … So my whole dinner was 13 points, plus I still have points leftover! I never understood this whole point system or anything before but I can honestly see how it works!

(I started with 4 shrimp and then added 4 more after)

Well wish me luck in this new year with this new diet stuff! I feel very motivated and think there is so much to look forward to this year! I wish you all a happy and healthy new year as well… As always, keep checking out Newlywed Kitchen to see some new recipes.

New Years Eve Cocktail Party

Between both of our work schedules, Alex and I do not usually get to celebrate New Years Eve. This year, we both had off which was great and with how crazy the holidays were and with traveling we decided to spend the night in. With a few good friends over, delicious food, and amazing drinks, we had an awesome night!

I literally worked the whole day before NYE, so I had to come up with things that I could easily make as I knew I would be tired. The menu included salmon canapés, edamame, brie cups, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, ham and cheese, mini gyro bites, and shrimp cocktail.

For the salmon canapés, I took a cucumber and peeled it and cut it into half inch disks. I mixed half a block of low fat cream cheese with horseradish sauce and actual horseradish. You can add the horseradish to the taste that you like. Spread the cream cheese on the cucumber and then take thinly slices of smoked salmon and put that on top of the cream cheese. I then took a pickle and chopped it up in small pieces and sprinkled it on the canapés. The acidity and tang of the pickles with the crunch made the appetizer even better! These were delicious:

We got edamame frozen and steamed them in the microwave. All I did was sprinkle these with sea salt, crushed red pepper, and granulated garlic. I served it with a side of soy sauce and these were a hit!

Next I made brie cups! I actually got this idea off of my sister as she made these for Christmas! They were so delicious! I bought frozen phyllo dough cups, added brie cheese in the middle, and topped them with organic raspberry preserves. These baked for about 10 minutes in the oven and came out beautiful and tasty:

I then made prosciutto wrapped asparagus. Literally all you do is wrap asparagus with prosciutto. I bake them in the oven for about 8 minutes just so the asparagus softens and the prosciutto gets a little crisp on the edges:

Ham and Cheese… well pretty self explanatory. Alex’s aunt and uncle sent us a food package for Christmas and it had a gourmet ham and pepper jack cheese. I just cut these up and served them with spicy mustard. So easy but good!

The mini gyro bites were also very easy. I took a steak and cut it into small pieces, and broiled that for about 5 minutes making them medium rare to medium. I put the meat on top of cut up flat bread, topped that with sour cream and cucumber, tomatoes, and oregano. Ridiculously easy and were hearty and tasted amazing!

Lastly, I made shrimp cocktail. I steamed the shrimp and in the bottom of a bowl put the juice of one lemon, red wine vinegar, parsley, garlic, and parmesan cheese. Once the shrimp were cooked, I added the shrimp to the bowl and tossed it around with all the flavors. I took the lemon that I had already juiced and made cocktail sauce and served it in that! It is one small thing to do but makes the presentation so much prettier!

The New Years Eve get together was so much fun and everyone loved the food. I can’t think of a better way to bring in the New Year than putting out delicious appetizers in my Newlywed Kitchen, having friends over to celebrate with, and getting a New Years kiss from my husband! Here’s to a great 2012!

Tip: since we knew we would be up late, my girlfriend had the great idea to make a breakfast bake in the crock pot so it would cook over night and be ready for when we all woke up. All we did was layer hashbrown potatoes, sausage patties, whisked eggs, and cheddar cheese. Keep layering this and put the crock pot on low. When you wake up there will be a delicious egg bake and no work is needed when everyone is tired in the morning!

Leftovers: the appetizers were so good but I did have some asparagus and shrimp leftover. This morning I decided to make a shrimp and asparagus egg white omelet and it was soooo good!

Christmas Lunch

At my new job, I often talk about my food blog and the different meals that I like to make when we have down time. This has turned into people asking me what I made for dinner last night and asking to see my blog! What better way to share what I do than to make a Christmas Lunch for everyone!

I Unfortunately do not have pictures because I was in the mode of cooking and forgot to take them! The menu included Caprese Salad, Roasted Asparagus with Mushrooms & Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus,  Spinach and Fontina Flatbread, Eggplant Parmesan, Chicken Parmesan, and a Gingerbread Trifle. This may sounds like a lot but it was very inexpensive to do and only took 2 hours! The caprese salad was the easiest to do, all you do is layer fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and fresh basil. Serve this with balsamic dressing, it looks beautiful and tastes great!

The asparagus I did two ways because of vegetarians that I work with! I roasted asparagus with baby portabella mushrooms seasoned with salt and garlic powder, and the other asparagus I did wrapped in prosciutto seasoned with garlic powder.

The flatbread was really made with whole wheat naan, I bought a creamed spinach packet at the grocery store, placed that on the flatbread, covered it with fontina cheese, and topped that with caramelized onions and broiled until the cheese was bubbly!

For the eggplant and chicken parmesan, I sliced up eggplant and bought the skinny chicken breasts. I made pans of seasoned flower, egg wash, and whole wheat bread crumbs. The eggplant I dipped in flour, put in the egg wash, and the covered with the bread crumbs and sautéed them in olive oil until brown and crispy. This was layered with reduced fat mozzarella cheese, parmesan, and artichoke tomato sauce and baked until the cheese was bubbly.  I followed the same steps with the chicken but used a roasted garlic tomato sauce.  (The eggplant was gone immediately).

Lastly for dessert, I make a trifle. I layered gingerbread cookies (these can be homemade or store bought). My cookies had a hint of cayenne pepper just for a kick of spice… then layer chocolate mousse (can be easily made with chocolate pudding mixed with cool whip), vanilla custard with eggnog flavoring, and then repeat the layers. This was then topped with cool whip, crumbled ginger snap cookies, and mini chocolate chips. I think this was everyone’s favorite part of the meal, including myself!

This was such a fun way to show the new people in my life what I love to do! Everyone seemed to really enjoy the meal  which made me incredibly happy! I was able to do it healthy and for a low cost! It was a great way to end the work week before Christmas and it allowed people to learn about my blog! They really seemed interested and loved what came out of my Newlywed Kitchen! Don’t worry, I made food for Alex too for when he got home from work ;)

Asian BBQ Salmon Salad

Alex loves to eat salads. I try my best to eat them but if I make a salad for dinner, I try to make it with a lot of toppings so it makes me want to eat it! We had salmon and I decided to make a Asian BBQ salmon salad. I made the BBQ sauce with ketchup, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, ginger, and garlic. I seasoned the salmon with salt and garlic powder, cut it into small pieces, and sautéed it until cooked through. While the salmon is cooking, I made a salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, carrot, cucumber, and edamame beans. Once the salmon is cooked, I added the barbeque sauce to simmer and thicken up to coat the salmon. The salmon goes on top of the lettuce and any dressing can be used. I sprinkle the top with toasted sesame seeds for a bit of crunch. Alex used a ginger dressing, and I used a ranch because I like the flavor of ranch mixed with barbeque sauce.

The salad was so good, it was healthy, Alex loved it, and I would make it again anytime. Instead of always making the average salad, I always try to do different things and become creative.  Marriage is all about compromise, even if it’s over SALADS for dinner J If having to compromise over food in our Newlywed Kitchen, and that is really the decisions we do not always agree on, I would say that we have things really good!

"5 Ingredient Fix"

With the craziness of the Holiday season, plus working and going to school, I sometimes do not have a lot of time to make dinner. I hate that because making dinner is not a chore to me, I love to do it. While I was shopping for Christmas gifts before work, I figured I would grab something really quick and easy to make for dinner, but still was healthy and tasted good. I also wanted to make something that would have leftovers since Alex and I were going to be busy that week. I found 5 things to throw together to make a delicious meal (now I know I usually make something homemade but I did not have the time).

I made whole wheat gnocchi with garlic and spinach chicken sausage, smoked sundried tomatoes, onions, and creamy tomato sauce.

All you have to do is sauté the onions and sausage until they are both browned:

Add in the sundried tomatoes and sauté them with everything until they become softened a bit:

While this is happening, boil the water and cook the gnocchi until they are cooked to your liking.

Add the gnocchi in with the sausage, onions, and tomato and pour the sauce over until warm.

I know that this is not homemade sauce but it is a healthy dinner that can be made in little time. We do  not always have a lot of time in our busy daily schedule but it is nice to know we can still eat a yummy meal that took hardly no time to cook and still make time to eat together as Newlyweds in our Newlywed Kitchen!